Very painful hysteroscopy

[Stormy76]

It was the most painful procedure I have ever had done. The consultant didn't listen when I told her that I had a very tilted cervix, she clearly hadn't read my notes because she asked me I felt I had been using contraceptives in the past 6 months as my coil had run out ....... it's for heavy painful periods not contraception....again ....in the notes.

She clearly hadn't looked at the scan that had been done and was dismissive. She said that often the coil was no longer there......it clearly was on the scan picture a few weeks ago, somethimes they migrate......the scan showed it was in the correct position my cervix is the problem. She then said that she would start by trying to manually remove it .....leaving the hysteroscope as a last resort! This is where it all went wrong.

The manual removal didn't work ...she couldn't find it .....then she tried another way to remove it ....she did tell me but it was starting to get sore by this point. After ages digging around and me feeling what felt like blood pouring out she finally admits she needs to go for the scope. It was painful even with several jabs of local .......I ended up screaming ......more than once. If I ever have to have it again I will go for a General because I will never be able to face having that done awake again. Apart from the fact that I was covered in blood and there's was blood all over the place .....it was like a horror show! It took me half an hour to walk to the hospital exit and another 10-15 mins to get across the car park.......the journey home was terrrible. I had to pull over because the car jolting was hurting me.

Has anyone else had the same experience?

I'm sorry you've had such a horrendous experience OP :-(

Thank you for posting though as it's very useful (if terrifying) to get the heads up.

I've got an appointment for a hysteroscopy in a couple of weeks time a consultant tried to take a biopsy in their surgery but 'something' was too tilted and my cervix was too tightly closed so it was too difficult to do and would have been very painful apparently.

I had assumed that by by booking the hysterectomy I would be avoiding the significant pain (?)

The hospital letter says no sedation but 'you may wish to take paracetamol and/or nurofen 30 mins before your appointment.'

I have only had c-sections (no vaginal births) so does anyone know if that means it's likely to be more painful ?
The consultant mentioned something about using water to try and open it (?)

Thanks

So have been referred to the hysteroscopy clinic which apparently I will be awake for and they will use some water to open everything up ??

Does anyone know any more about this ? And is it likely to be quite painful as that couldn't do the biopsy?

Also do they do a biopsy to be sent off at the same time as the hysteroscopy - or does the hysteroscopy replace that completely ?
Thanks

Sorry for odd post - the 2nd post is from something I posted in health a couple of weeks ago and has duped over for some reason.

I had a hysteroscopy a few weeks ago. I didn't find the procedure itself too bad but felt really awful afterwards. Terrible pain, faint and nauseous. I had to lay down in a side room at the clinic to recover.

dahliaa
If you are concerned I would get in touch with the hospital to find out if gas & air or other pain relief is available. The consultant might not have thought it worth mentioning.
As I said above, the pain tolerance threshold will be different for everyone. I am post meno and couldn't even have a smear because of vaginal atrophy (hence now on HRT) so knew what to expect.

Yes, there is water involved to open cervix.

I had polyp removed from cervix and also uterine poly removed. They did biopsies at the same time.

The gynae and HCP team were all brilliant and supportive. Obviously in everyone's interests to finish the procedure but they definitely would have stopped if I found it too painful to continue.

Hope this helps?

That's really helpful. Thanks flinty.

dahliaa

Everyone is different. It's debatable whether posting about bad experiences is helpful because it can create fear=tension=more pain. For every painful experience here, I can tell you about another woman who found it fine.

I was post meno but on HRT. I had had a biospy in the dr's room a few monthly before the hyster and it was fine.

Access for the hysteroscopy took time (they say something like 5-10 mins and mine took 30mins.) My consultant was very careful- he's one of the best in the UK- and I trusted him. Maybe that meant I was less tense, it was a small private hospital and I had the power to ask them to stop at any time.

The water is nothing more than a tiny amount of saline which they allow to flow into the uterus once the scope is inside. It pushes to walls apart for a second to allow better images to be seen. Some hospitals use air instead of water. It's over in seconds. I watched this done on the screen. It's a slightly odd feeling but over in no time.

I hope it goes will for you. Don't imagine the worst,and be aware that tension makes pain worse.

Thank you Queen - I'll try and be very zen about it

I’ve had three hysteroscopies and all were absolutely fine with no sedation, no local and certain GA. I took paracetamol beforehand to reduce post procedure cramping but it was relatively painless - just a couple of sharp twinges. I drove straight back to work.
I know everyone has a different s but research suggests the majority of women tolerate it well without sedation or anaesthetic- both of which increase recovery time and complication rate.

I had this recently on the NHS and was offered a GA no hassle. I've got to have a fibroid removed and they said local for that but I'm going to insist on a GA too as I find it all too traumatic.

OP. I think a hysteroscopy is probably the single most painful medical procedure I've ever had done. (In fairness to my ob/gyn, she did warn me, and give me the choice of having it done under general, so at least I knew what I was getting into. And a friend had the same procedure under GA, and the GA left her wiped out for a whole week.)

@Fermatstheorem how did you deal with it at the time? Breathing etc ?

Well, luckily the polyp was on the exterior of the cervix so easy (and quick) to get at. That was a bit painful. Then she did a hysteroscopy just to check there weren't more - that was the really painful bit, but again, relatively quick (a minute or so) so clenched teeth and dig nails into hands! Had kind of period-crampy pains afterwards, but just took to bed with a hot water bottle and a load of ibuprofen.

On balance, having talked to my friend about "losing" a week of her life to the after-effects of GA (she seemed to react badly, and has only fragmentary memories of a whole week), I'm glad I opted for a bit of pain. But the really important thing is I was given the choice. I think it would have been really traumatic had the doc just got on with it without warning me and giving me the choice as to how I wanted it done.

Thanks Fermats if at all poss I'd like to avoid general unless really necessary.

OP hope you are doing ok today.

I had a GA with mine but was back to work after 48 hours with no problems. I would have gone back the day after but my car insurance stipulated I couldn't drive for 48 hours.

did you find the campaign against painful hysterscopy

I know this is an old thread but, ugh, wish I'd read it a week ago!

I was referred for a hysteroscopy for post-meno bleeding, and "something" (potentially polyps) showing up on an ultrasound. I opted for having the procedure awake, as I'm fairly good with pain and wanted to avoid GA. The consultant implied it would be a breeze.

The doctor and all the nurses were lovely, and took their time, and I was given gas & air, but Christ, it was painful! Like full-on labour pains. They managed to photograph some "growths" and take a biopsy, but said they were too big to remove (I in floods of tears begging them to stop anyway by this point). So now I'm waiting for an appointment for the whole bloody thing to be done again under GA. I wish I'd gone that route all along.